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Germany’s Nuclear Nous versus the UK’s Nuclear Nutters

I’m celebrating today – for the simple reason that Germany closed down its three remaining nuclear reactors on Saturday 15th April. I’ve followed the nuclear debate in Germany ever since I first got involved in green politics back in the 1970s, and was hugely inspired by the campaigns of Die Grünen…

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Sizewell C: Just the Latest Nuclear Scam

Whatever chaos unfolds between today (Thursday) and tomorrow, Boris Johnson is apparently still planning to confirm his Government’s commitment to a new nuclear power station at Sizewell tomorrow. As we all know, Johnson’s default political tactic is to lie, regardless of which particular issue or…

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Truth and Fantasy in Our Net Zero World

In this short-lived breathing space between last week's Net Zero barrage and next week's CoP26 frenzy, it seems timely to reflect on how it all stacks up so far. After months of delay, Boris Johnson and his fractious Ministers finally moved into warp drive in issuing their Net Zero Strategy.

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USA and China Join Battle for Net Zero Gold Rush

Listen out: ‘The American Jobs Plan will unify and mobilise the country to meet the two great challenges of our time: the climate crisis and the ambitions of an autocratic China.’ So said Joe Biden’s Press Secretary on 31st March, unveiling his new American Jobs Plan – in all its $2tn glory! That…

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Energy Policymaking in the UK: Ill-Informed and Incoherent

In March 2012, four former Directors of Friends of the Earth (myself, Tom Burke, Charles Secrett and Tony Juniper) wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron to warn him that the pro-nuclear bias of his advisors across government posed a significant risk to the Government’s ability to fashion a coherent…

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The Aotearoa Circle: An Initiative for Our Times

Back in 2016, I sat down in Auckland with a very good friend of mine, Rob Fenwick, to share our frustrations at the difficulty of getting New Zealanders to understand the critical importance of New Zealand’s natural wealth – its soils, forests, biodiversity, rivers, coastlines, oceans and so on. We…

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